Typewriting machine



Patented July 3l, 1923.

narran armas career crates.

GEORGE A. SEIB, OF ILION, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO REMINGTON' TYPEWRITER COMPANY, OF ILION, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

Application med June 27, 1922. serial No! 571,154.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. SEIB, citizen of the United States, and resident' of Ilion, in the county of Herkimer and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Typewriting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to stop mechanisms for the type bars of writing machines, and its general object is to provide new and improved mechanisms of the ycharacter stated. More specificially my invention has for its object the provision of a new and improved anvil or type bar contact device constructed to minimize the metallic noise which has heretofore resulted from the employment of an anvil of solid metal, while at the same time practically retaining the advantages of a solid anvil construction.

To the above and other ends which will hereinafter appear, my invention consists in the features of construction, combinations of devices, and arrangements of parts, hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

n carrying out my invention I provide an anvil made of coiled wire multiple wound, that is, wound from a number of strands or wires, five for example, as in the present instance, which are led from separate spools or supply holders and wound simultaneously upon an arbor producing a hollow cable or helix. By this expedient I am able to give the wires a pitch or angle sufficient to cause the type bars always to strike them crossWise, the type bars thus being prevented from forcing their Way between the wires and lodging or sticking and thus retarding or interfering with the printing operations. Preferably also the anvil is composed of two 'hollow cables or helices', one fitting within the other and serving as a core, as I have found by experiment that such a construction prevents collapse ordistortion of the anvil when it is bent or curved into an arc and fitted into its seat in the type bar support or segment. The inner helix or core piece may be made of the same diameter or fineness of wire y.as the outer helix but is prefarably wound oppositely so that its plies or strands cross at an angle to the outer plies or strands. .l

My invention will be described in detail in connection with the accompanying draw.- ings wherein,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front eleva tion partly in section showing a type bar support or segment with my invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is-a vertical sectional view taken on a plane indicated by the section line 1`1 in Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows at said line, said Figure 2 being drawn to an enlarged scale and showing one of the type bars co-operatively engaged with the anvil or contact device.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the outer helix or part of the anvil.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the inner part or core.

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view partly in section of the anvil or contact device; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of ay modification. v

Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings illustrate fragmentarily the type bars and type bar support of a No. 10 Remington typewriting machine to which my invention is shown applied. Said type bar support or segment 1 is arcuate in form and vertically fixed to the framing by screws 1a below and somewhat forward of the platen 2. Said segment is formed with a series of radial kerfs or slot-s indicated at 3 in which the type bars 4 are arranged and whereby they are guided, each type bar being provided at its outer end with a type block 5 formed with an upper case type and a ylower case type that are adapted to contact co-operatively with the front face of the platen 2. The set of type bars are pivoted on an arcuate fulcrum wire 6 which is common to all of the type bals, and is supported on the segment l, said fulcrum wire extending transversely of the guide slots Scand being seated in an arcuate groove cut in the rear portion of the segv dfwices 10 having heads or securing portions with and guide certain parts of the guiding as heretofore constructed and in 'other typeand line finding mechanism not herein shown. I have now described such of the regular parts of the machine as are necessary to a complete understanding ofmy invention.

lln the Remington typewriting machine writing machines there has been employed a type bar anvil or contact device made of solid metal, usually in the form of a priojecting rib on the type bar segment.' rlh'e noise-.resulting from the impact of the type bars on this anvil as they near the ends of their strokes is considerable and the primary purpose of my invention is to eliminate this noise as far as possible and yet to retain the advantages of the substantially constructed anvil or contact device. To this end l have replaced the solid 'anvil with -a Wire coil anvil which in the preferred form comprises two parts or coils, an outer coil 13 and an inner coil 0r core 14. Both these coils or helices may be made of piano or spring wire of the same diameter and of sufficient elasticity to prevent permanent distortion from the blows received from the type bars. Both coils or helices l are multiple wound; that is to say, instead of being /wound or composed of a single ,wire each is preferably composed of iive wires or strands wound simultaneously side by side. The two coils however are wound. in opposite directions. The results of such multiple winding, so far as ,aiecting the character of the coils is concerned, will be clearly understood from an inspection Vof Figs. 3 and 4, which show respectively portions or sections of the outer coil 13 Yand the inner coil 14. Forl the sake of clearness the ive wires of coil 13 are designated in order as a,-b, c, d and e. Beginning at the right in Fig. 3 these five wires appear side by side in the coil t0 be succeededv by the samefive inthe same order; and so on. Similarly in Fig. 4 which shows the inner coil 14 the five wires of which it is composed are designated in order a", b', c', d and e. Beginning at the left these five Wires are wound together side by side 'in l the said order and are next succeeded by themselves in the same order; and so on. llhe consequence of such'multiple winding 1s that the angular disposition of each wire of the coil, or its pitch, so to speak` is su'iicient `to insure that the' type bars will impact against the anvil always more or lesscrosswise of one or more of the wires of which it is composed, the type bars thus being prevented from striking between or worlring in between the coils of wire and lodging or sticking sc as to hamper or obnaeasee struct theoperation of the type bars. llln contrast to this a hollow cable or helix wound'of a single wire will bring the coils almost parallel withy the type bars so thatthey will tend to stick or lodge between the coils when operated and frequently will do so as experiment has demonstrated. The coiled wire anvil when mounted in place is curved or bent into an arc concentric with the arc of the type bar pivot 6 and against its own inherent tendency to remainA Fig. 2 it will be observed that the anvil is circular in cross section and has a hollow interior indicated at 14a. rll`he circular form allows the wire to beturned when detached to vary the portion of the surface struck by the type bars, thus providing for ,wear and inc reasing the life of the anvil.

The anvil 13, 14 is mounted on the segment, being seated in an arcuate groove or undercut therein indicated at 15. rllhe groove 15 is il-shaped in cross section and is cut in the front face of the segment concentric with the groove of the type bar fulcrum wire 6, and is so shaped and proportioned as to leave the front portion of the ,anvil projecting forward beyond the face of the segment as will be vclearly understood from Fig. 2.. A segmental clamp or retaining plate 16 having an angular flange or contact portion 17 is detachably secured to the front `face of the segment above the anvil, prefer-ably by the screws 12, the plate 16, 17 being clamped between the front face of the segment and the under faces of the guide pieces 10, 11. 'llhe flange portion 17 of the retaining plate con-` tactively engages with the upper portion of the coiled anvil and retains it in position in its seat 15, leaving the lfront or contact portion of the coil projecting through and beyond an opening or slotway formed in the segment by the retaining plate y16, 17 and the undercut 15, this opening being in effect an arcuate slotway which is so narrow as to prevent the escape or displacement of the coiled anvil. ln Fig. 2 the lower portion of the center guide is broken away so as to show more clearly the lefthand pair of screws 12 by which the lefthand portion of the retaining plate is clarrped or secured to the segment.

s In some instances the inner coil or core may be .dispensed with and a'n anvil com posed of a single coil, 'such as or similar to mesme the outer coil 13, may be found to give satisfaction. However, as stated, I have found it preferable to employ the double coil or two-part construction as this lends itself more readily to proper and accurate bending and mounting ofl the contact device ony the type bar support. Y

In Fig. 6 there iis illustrated a modified construction wherein the anvil is composed, of a'single coil 18 of wire, the coil in turn being wound from a single wire instead of a plurality of wires as in the Figs. 1-5 construction. It will be noted from Fig. 6 that as a result of using a single wire in winding the helix the coils comprising it extend more nearly straight acrossthan in the first described construction. In other words, the pitch or angularity isconside rably less in the Fig. 6 construction and as a result the type bars will strike against the helix almost parallel with the coils so that the bars at times may stick or lodge between the coils, thus interfering with the proper operation of the type bars. For this reasonI prefer to employ a multiple Wound or com-- pound helix or helices for the anvil since thereby the pitch ofthe coils is increased to such an extent that the liability of sticking is obviated. l

An anvil formed or made in the manner described, and particularly the Figs. 1-5 construction, provides a contact or cushion that retains the advantages of the solid anvil while eliminating to a large extent the disagreeable metallic noises incident to the use of the latter. In my construction there is a slight give 'or yield to the contact device or anvil when it is struck bythe type bar soJ that the bar instead of being instantly and finally arrested at the moment of contadt moves slightly and of course much more slowly towards the platen until the contact device will no longer yield and finally effects the arrest of the type bar. The bar is thus arrested just prior to the contact of the type with the paper on the platen, the imprint of the type being efected as the result of the whipping over ofthe t end of the bar due to its momentum. ollowing the impact of the type on the paper the speed of the type bar return action is increased as the result of an impulse communicated to the bar from the slightly compressed anvil. In other words, the contact device or anvil in the present invention is sufficiently elastiq to give the type bar what may be termed a gradual arrest in contrast with the instant arrest of the solid anvil, thus tending to re duce the noise; and the elasticity of the present contact device has the further advantage of increasing the speed of return of t-he type bar to its normal position. In view of theslight give or yield of the present contact device it may be found desirable to time the Contact of the bar with the arresting dethe contact of the type bar with a solid anvil.

It will also be noted that the sound vibrations,instead of being transmitted unintenruptedly through a. solid metallic metal with the prior solid anvil, are in the present instance necessarily broken up or divided` thus conducing to a reduction in the amount of noise and also changing its quality by lessening the sonority. y

It is to be understood that the term'anvil as herein employed refers to an anvil or contact device that is adapted/'to yield or give somewhat to the impact of the type bars in contradistinction to the immovable, inflexible or solid style of anvil heretofore usually employed.

Various changes besides those specified above may be made Without departing from the spirit and scope of my present invention. Y What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is :-y

1. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a set of key operated type bars, and a coiled wire device arranged in the path ofthe type bars so asto be struck by said type bars'as they nearthe ends of their printing strokes.

2. In a 'typewr-iting machine, the combination of a. Platen, a set of key operated type bars, and an anvil with whichvsaid type bars co-operate, said anvill being made of coiled spring wire.

3. In a typewriting machine, the com bination of a platen, a set of key operated type bars, and an anvil with which said type bars co-operate, said anvil being made of .spring wire multiple wound.

- 4. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a. set of key operated type` bars, and an anvil with which said type bars co-operate, Vsaid anvil comprising acore formed of a' plurality of wireswound side by side.

5. In a typewriting machine, 'the combination of a platen, a set of key operated i type bars, and an anvil with which said type' .bars co-opera'te, said anvil being composed Vof two coils the other.

6. In a typewritingz machine, the combination of a platen, aset of key operated type bars, and an anvil with which said type bars co-operate, said anvil being composedof two coils of wire, one arranged inside the other, 'the 'coils being oppositely wound. j

7. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a set of key operated lof wire, one arranged inside type bars, and an anvil with which saidtype bars co-operate, said anvil4 being com` posed'of twocoilsof wire, one arranged inside the other, each coil being composed of1 a' pluralityof wires Wound side by side.

' 8. In a typewriting'machine, the coinbination of a platen, a set of key operated type bars, a supporttherefor, and an anvilv -With which said type bars co-operate, saidv .anvil beingr composed of two spring '.coils,

one arranged inside the other, each coil bebars but capable of straightening itself 9. In a typewriting machine, the combination of a platen, a type bar support, a set of key operated type bars thereon, and

:an anvil of spring wire seated in a groove Ain said support.

10. ln a typewriting machine, the comvbination of a platen, a type bar support, a l 2@ set of 'key operated type bars thereon, an

anvil circular in cross section and seated in a V-groove in said support, and a segmental retaining plate detachably secured to sald support and operative 'to retain said anvil anvil being secured to said support .in an'- arc of a circle but through its inherent spring beingr adapted to-straighten out when .removed `from said support.

Signed at llion, in the county of Herkimer, and State of New York, this 23rd day of June, A. D. 1922. V

GEORGE A. SEIB.

Witnesses:

LINNIE F. BURNETT,

E. B. DODGE. 

